Now Warner Bros. has announced that they will be going BluRay exclusive in May of 2008.  For now they will be still releasing HD-DVD and BluRay movies.  The big news is how much Warners was paid ($500 million) and the fact they where shopping their exclusivity.  The rumors out there are Warners was looking to get paid either by the HD-DVD group or the BluRay group. 

It seems that Warner Bros was willing to go HD-DVD exclusive if Fox also went exclusive with them (currently Fox is a BluRay exclusive).  Well BluRay had Warner Bros and Fox a deal too sweet for HD-DVD group.  It is said both companies have been paid $500 million by BluRay group (Sony) to be BluRay exclusive.

Now this move will probably end the HD format war.   The HD-DVD group has canceled their CES press conference which they most likely were planning to announce that Fox and Warner Bros would be HD-DVD exclusive.  Now only Paramount and Dream Works are supporting the HD-DVD format.  It seems that payoffs will be deciding which HD format will win this war, not the consumers.

Now the decisions by Warne Bros and Fox can not be totally blamed on the millions of dollors that was dropped in their lap.  The December NPD data seems to suggest that BluRay players may have sold better than HD-DVD players.  This data excludes Walmart which had some of the best HD-DVD deals but overall it seems BluRay is doing better than HD-DVD across all regions.  One can not deny that the support for the BluRay playing PS3 in Europe also has to be making a difference. 

http://www.campaignhd.com/080104_Warner_Paid.html